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Architecture On Trial: The Porters And The Pest House, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Architecture On Trial: The Porters And The Pest House, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
When young Amelia Porter contracted smallpox in September 1902, a legal battle ensued between her parents, who wanted her cared for at home, and Bowling Green, Kentucky physician and State Board of Health secretary Dr. Joseph N. McCormack, who demanded that the family be quarantined in the local "pest house" until determined not to be contagious. The lawsuit raised issues of medical expertise, individual rights vs. public safety, the adequacy of Bowling Green's quarantine hospital, and the personality and tactics of McCormack, whose crusades for public health legislation had earned him many enemies.
Virginia's Journey, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Virginia's Journey, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
The forty-year journalism career of Smiths Grove, Kentucky native Virginia Wood Davis (1919-1990) took her to fourteen newspapers in seven Southern states. While breaking down barriers for women as both a reporter and editor, this self-described “hillbilly to hillbillies” lived an extraordinarily independent and frugal life. After she died, those who had always thought of her as poor were astonished at the size of her bequest to her alma mater, Western Kentucky University. This biographical sketch draws from Davis’s own memoir and a collection of her papers housed at Western Kentucky University.
The Duck Supper: Roasting Gender In Early Twentieth-Century Bowling Green, Lynn E. Niedermeier
The Duck Supper: Roasting Gender In Early Twentieth-Century Bowling Green, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
In 1901, a scandal rocked Potter College for Young Ladies in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Five students attempted to climb from their dormitory window for a midnight rendezvous with some boys from town. When the college's president, Reverend Benjamin F. Cabell, interrupted the prank, a chaotic exchange of gunfire ensued between him and the boys. Cabell’s subsequent attempt to hush up the matter, his solicitude for the boys, and his harsh treatment of the female students drew outrage from citizens and mockery from the press. Both the incident and its aftermath highlighted the tension, affecting even this small Kentucky town, between …
"I Hope You Can Some Day Have A Bath Room": Bowling Green's Sewer System, Lynn E. Niedermeier
"I Hope You Can Some Day Have A Bath Room": Bowling Green's Sewer System, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Bowling Green once disposed of its sewage through “sinks,” openings to caverns and underground watercourses in the limestone bedrock beneath the city. By the late nineteenth century, however, the seepage, flooding, odor and disease emanating from clogged sinks—not to mention from the city’s hundreds of unregulated surface privies—posed hazards that could no longer be ignored. Public health advocates intensified their calls for man-made rather than natural sewers to eliminate what one of them called the “gross accumulation of human filth in the city.” Politicians procrastinated and some citizens resisted, but a federal loan in 1932 finally enabled the construction of …
The History Of Her Heart: Kentucky Author Rosa Praigg Dickerson, Lynn E. Niedermeier
The History Of Her Heart: Kentucky Author Rosa Praigg Dickerson, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Under the pen name "Violet Woods," Rosa Praigg Dickerson (1843-1902) wrote poetry and stories for Kentucky newspapers and magazines and published nationally in the well-known Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine. This sketch of her life draws on biographical material and a collection of her writing housed at WKU's Special Collections Library.
Porter's Watch: The View From The Firehouse, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Porter's Watch: The View From The Firehouse, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Bowling Green, Kentucky fireman Euclid Porter Dodd (1870-1958) witnessed many changes in the department and the city during his long career. In two record books that are now held in WKU's Special Collections Library, Dodd noted such events as the loss of a beloved fire wagon horse, his own dismissal and rehiring, local and national news, and the death of a young man that just might be the source of a popular Western Kentucky University ghost story.
The Ghostly Legends Of Vinegar Hill, Lynn E. Niedermeier
The Ghostly Legends Of Vinegar Hill, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Before the establishment of Western Kentucky University on its hilltop campus, the area was known as "Vinegar Hill," a rocky, overgrown, unsavory and haunted place. In 1912, an elderly African-American resident of the neighboring community of Jonesville recounted its ghostly history to a local newspaper reporter.
A 1908 Interview With The Author Of "Aunt Jane Of Kentucky", Lynn E. Niedermeier
A 1908 Interview With The Author Of "Aunt Jane Of Kentucky", Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Bowling Green native Lida Calvert Obenchain wrote popular fiction and campaigned for woman suffrage. Interviewed after her first book of stories, Aunt Jane of Kentucky, was published under her pen name "Eliza Calvert Hall," Lida spoke about her family, literature, women's rights, and her work for the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. The interview, conducted by journalist Ewing Galloway, is reproduced here, with annotations to amplify the content.
The Woman's Library Of Bowling Green, Lynn E. Niedermeier
The Woman's Library Of Bowling Green, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
Before Bowling Green secured a public library, two women's clubs joined in 1898 to create a private lending library for their own study and enjoyment and that of their fellow citizens. As the Woman's Library grew, some 200 members of the public paid a fee for borrowing privileges. By the time the library was donated to the Board of Education in 1913, it boasted 2,500 volumes.
The Bowling Green Refining Company: Makers Of "Kentucky Maid" Gasoline, Lynn E. Niedermeier
The Bowling Green Refining Company: Makers Of "Kentucky Maid" Gasoline, Lynn E. Niedermeier
Lynn E. Niedermeier
In 1931, Depression-struck oil producers in Warren, Simpson and Allen Counties created the Bowling Green Refining Company to convert local crude into gasoline. With a daily capacity of 1,500 barrels, the company produced its brand of "Kentucky Maid" gasoline at a forty-acre facility near Memphis Junction. Service stations throughout the area sold Kentucky Maid until 1936, when supply problems forced the company into liquidation.